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Thursday, March 24, 2005

Truer words have not been spoken. You’d think as simple as the implication is that we would get it fairly quick. As positive as it is; as enervating, life-giving, hope-inspiring, heart-lifting and assuring as it seems; what ever could be our problem?

We can be certain that some part of the problem lies in how we define Love. In a way it’s a ‘cart before the horse’ sort of thing. We don’t define Love. Love defines us; so does our lack of it. Considering the vast collection of things that pass for Love; that are called Love, that are sought after as Love, that are used to enforce Love and to explain how and why Love does what it does and is what it is, well... it’s not hard to understand why we may have a problem.

What we call Love, even much of the higher expressions of what we call Love, are not Love in essence though there may be an association and possibly an inlet; Life is not contained specifically in a rose, or a cat or a person. Life is present in these things but life is not specifically these things. The same applies to Love. The pure Love of the spiritual realm would pass unrecognized by most and would reflexively be avoided, panic inducing and flight propelling as well. Its deeper aspect is like a high keening, piercing rapture that annihilates most of the affected vessel, Love may not be frightening, but what it does can be.

We can think of Life as a mountain and Love as both the impetus to climb and the reality of completion. Just as life can be a mountain it can also be getting out of bed in the morning; the miles you walk, the things you do, the choices you make, the problems you encounter and both the known and unknown portions of each new drama you encounter. Love could be thought of as the power that lifts you from your bed; what carries you across the miles, what determines the things you do, the choices you make and what resolves the problems and illuminates the portions of each drama you encounter. At the same time, the amount of Love present, determines the manner in which you arise from your bed; the manner in which you walk those miles, the kinds of choices you make, the way in which you meet those problems and the way in which you react to the known and unknown portions of the drama.

Every person here and everything they think and say and do is determined by the quality and amount of Love that they possess. Consonant with this is the fact that Love has no interest in the majority of the things we think and say and do except in terms of changing them. Getting out of bed, climbing a mountain, walking the miles and all of the rest require a commitment. At some point the commitment in most every life is compromised by other things. A compromise is worked out in the mind of the participants.

Love isn’t lazy. No matter how far you think you are willing to go, Love is willing to go farther. No matter how much you believe you are capable of giving up, Love’s interest is in the total loss of it all. Love has no possession greater than itself and is diminished by whatever degree it might think otherwise. It doesn’t think otherwise. So it’s quite possible that Love is the greatest enemy of all your hopes and dreams.

You are a dreaming island surrounded by an incomprehensible sea. As you are, the idea of sinking into that sea, of total dissolution into that sea is also incomprehensible. All of your survival instincts war against it. Within the individuality of your personal island you sit atop this sea and chatter and dream and engage with the other islands in a seeming performance of reality. Some islands acquire large audiences of other islands by virtue of unique skills. Some of the skills are of the entertainment variety. Some of these skills promise to improve your island condition. Some of the skills promote confusion; some promote necessary items of protection and sustenance. Few of the islands broadcast the information that you should melt into the sea. Maybe Love is madness.

It’s ironic that islands work against being islands in their desire to be uniform in behavior while forever being destined to act as islands- so long as they are islands.

The life of islands, individually and collectively, is separated by periods of varying conditions. It’s like the seasons. The weather goes about being stable and then it changes. The islands are in a continuous stage of adapting to these conditions. Still, no matter what the island does it’s a temporary phenomenon.

Islands create weather too. Islands attract weather. Did the earthquake create the tsunami? What made the earth quake? Nature is often disregarded and very often treated like a whore. Some worship but most are casually indifferent. Some number plunders at will. There’s a scale in nature that measures the interests and temperaments of the islands. As long as the scale registers at a certain point Nature is not reactive; after a certain point Nature is continuously reactive. Nature measures the aggregate mind set of the islands and, like the mirror that she is, reflects-reacts to whatever is imaged there.

If you wrestle with yourself, who wins? If you abuse yourself once or a thousand times, what is the result? If the abuse is collective does it become exponential? If the balance between common truths and untruths is upset- due to a large increase in the latter, what happens?

In the present day the amount of lies and self-serving action have become so ubiquitous that such activity is accepted as normal; most would be hard pressed to tell the difference between the actual and the fabricated. The daily feed of lies from the seats of temporal power has become so consistent that the truth is not told at all. The degree of absurdity increases by the day. Gullibility and confusion increase by the day. Polarities widen and tension increases.

Once, during a period of heightened awareness, I saw a flaming alphabet written into every physical thing that I observed. It occurred to me that this alphabet was the vibrational integrity of each thing; the power that defined it and maintained it as it was. It was written in me as well. Something holds all of this together and you are part of that. Love is the unifying principle. It has by-products like balance and harmony, stability, protection and a host of desirable facets. We are not so close to Love as we need to be. We are far enough away that any further departure could prove catastrophic.

As universal as Love is it is also intensely personal. So, the whole world might fall down around you but not one piece of it would injure the residence of Love. Recently I was inquiring within myself as to what I might do to better my circumstance; my spiritual circumstance, not the ongoing ephemera. Still, no doubt I intended to include all of my life, the whole of it- the idea of the best expression and resolution of it, in the quickest and most direct way in this questioning. Fairly immediately a voice came into my mind and said, “Love God more.” That was repeated several times. In the ensuing hours I received many an example of how directly this impacted on every aspect of my existence. I could not hope to cover it here.

I point this out because ‘Life’ as we know it is entering a transitional period. There’s going to be some real shaking up. There’s going to be some shaking up for which I lack the necessary superlative. You’ve had some preliminary indication and we’ll be moving along toward even greater expressions of the same. I don’t want to be an alarmist, though it would seem any fool could see the writing on the wall. It appears not to be the case.

So what I’m saying, since nothing can harm Love, it’s best to be as closely aligned with; immersed in, in pursuit of, aspiring to and generally thinking about Love as much as you are able. To Love God more is to be going about in the most effective manner in which Love increases itself within you. Loving God more- also directs all that you do into the finest expression of Love for which you are capable. If destruction seems to loom over the islands, the best place to hide from the surface weather is in the sea.

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comments:

Anonymous
said...

One of your very best to date! You have added a whole new dimension to the word 'subtle'. If you've ever done any boxing I imagine you are formidable indeed, my metaphorical jaw still hurts and I never saw it coming.

Major league, world class writing. That closing sentence is a work of art. You are cutting edge, you are at the very top of the game. I am so extraordinarily glad that I come here, that I know about this place. Thank you!

I don't know what to say, feel like repeating the comment just above. You're destined for great things even if it turns out NOT to be of this world. Some of the things you said, I found myself saying, "Damn! I wish I'd said that." and then remembering Oscar Wilde I thought, "Don't worry, I will."

Last night I was reading an article on Rap, which I enjoy about as much as a kick in the shin with a steelcapped boot and I was thinking about your work, the things you say and generally how you make out; the little I know about you and

I started laughing because my mind went back over what I know of history, the deep and the shallow and the peopple that engineer things and

It really does look like a bunch of dwarfs are building mass market dolls that they crank up in an underground laboratory. The dwarfs are all twisted and can't see right and their hands don't work very well but the machinery is forgiving and

Crap just explodes everywhere. Nobody seems to know where it comes from but I think it has to be the dwarfs and whatever Santa with the bloodstained teeth is behind the operation and

Then I listened to your new tunes which are terrific by the way and I reread this piece here which is authentic and inspired and I just wondered some more and

I know I can't do enough dwarf stomping because they are everywhere if the litter is any indication and

Each time I read this I keep thinking I want to repost it over at The Fray, it being Easter weekend and people like locdog hammering the locdogma with all of it's bloody depressing subjectivity that is not in the spirit of what that great teacher came to express.

I wouldn't do it without your permission. I know you've given carte blanche in the matter of reposting but still I'd like a direct okay on this. I'm sure you have my email from the letters I've sent.

I was shocked by what I have read about you today. I know you are not a nasty, conniving vindictive type – so just convince other people. You are a warm person. Forget about the personalities behind the poems. You know to whom I am referring - persons whose names begin with “C”. I am NOT one of these personalities. I am an aspiring writer whose work had been short listed, then rejected because it was found posted on the internet. It was locked by the website, so I had no powers to delete. You have much potential. Do not waste it. Understand where the good advice is coming from. You are intelligent enough to be able to discern the good from the bad. I think you may benefit from some intuition lessons.

This message does come straight from my heart, not my head, so feel free to reject this advice as sappy.

I wish you the best of luck with your future endeavours.

Kindest regards VSP

I agree with you that I’m a connoisseur [as in: born into a certain stereotype]

Forgive this duplicate - I posted previous message into the wrong place. This is the correct message